CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Iowa Heartlanders closed out a three-game home stand against the Wichita Thunder with a 4-2 loss Saturday at Xtream Arena. There were 25 combined infractions, five misconducts and 102 penalty minutes, the most in a game at Xtream Arena this season.
Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Tommy Parrottino and Carson Denomie, but Wichita scored three in the second to pull away with the victory. Mitch Benson got his second start in net for Iowa and tallied 20 saves. Roman Barsan blocked 29 in the win for Wichita.
Iowa opened up the scoring 10:36 into the first period when Zach White found Parrottino in the right slot and fired a one-timer to put Iowa up, 1-0. Five minutes later, Justin Michaelian stole the puck in the Heartlanders zone and found Denomie in the slot on the breakaway for another Iowa goal.
The Thunder exploded in the second period to take the lead. At the :58 mark, Quinn Preston scored on a rebound off the pad of Benson to bring the game within one. At 8:29, Peter Bates forced the puck through the five hole to tie the game, 2-2. Three minutes later, Gavin Gould bounced the puck off the back boards right to Brayden Watts in the slot who fired the shot to give Wichita the lead, 3-2.
Gould scored an empty-net goal at the end of the game to make the score, 4-2.
Iowa plays their next five on the road, their final road games of the regular season. The trip starts at Toledo Fri., Mar. 31 at 6:15 p.m.
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